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February 10, 2025February 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

FlashMyPico – Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico 2 code editing and firmware flashing from a web browser

FlashMyPico website allows you to write C code, build the firmware, and flash it to your Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico W, Pico 2, or Pico 2 W directly from a web browser instead of having to check out the code from GitHub, build it in a terminal, and then manually copy the resulting binary. I’ve given it a quick with a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 board. The first step is to head over to flashmypico.com from your computer or even an Android smartphone. You’ll need a web browser that supports WebUSB, so for example, Firefox is not an option, and I eventually had to use Google Chrome instead. There’s a detect device link on the bottom left, so I clicked on that first, and my Raspberry Pi Pico 2 was detected as “RP2350 Boot” after I put it in bootloader mode. But it just told me that my board is […]

February 5, 2025February 5, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

OpenWISP open-source solution facilitates the management of OpenWrt router fleets

OpenWisp OpenWrt router management platform

Last month, I wrote about the WL-AC1000 AP controller, a hardware-based solution to monitor fleets of routers, and wondered why the company (Wallys) did not provide a software solution instead. It was pointed out to me that software AP controller solutions for OpenWrt routers do exist, but they looked not mature. After a quick search, I found OpenWISP described as an “open-source solution for efficient IT network deployment, monitoring & management” designed for OpenWrt Linux routers. OpenWISP allows organizations with several routers to manage them in a centralized location, get alerts when issues occur, upgrade the firmware of multiple routers with a few clicks, create users with permissions to access specific routers, and so on. OpenWISP Features: Configuration Templates – Manage device settings by defining reusable configuration templates that apply updates system-wide with a single change. Automatic Provisioning – Connect and configure new devices with zero-touch auto registration for rapid […]

February 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Compulab RoboDesigner – Design and order a custom SBC within one hour from your web browser

RoboDesigner SBC designer program 3D view

Compulab RoboDesigner is a new web-based tool and service that allows you to design and or a custom SBC using one of Compulab’s system-on-module within about one hour instead of going through the more lengthy process of designing a carrier board by yourself. I’ve given it a try, and it’s really easy to use even if you don’t have any engineering skills. It’s very similar to Gumstix Geppetoo introduced in 2013 for Overo SoMs, and now called Upverter with support for a wider range of modules including Raspberry Pi Compute Modules. The first step is to go to https://robo-designer.com/ and click on Select Functions. Right now, the selection of SoMs is rather limited because there’s only one: CMiMX8M C-Lab CORE with an NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 16GB eMMC flash. You can then select the I/O modules you want from the list with the remaining […]

February 3, 2025February 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Roboreactor – A Web-based platform to design Raspberry Pi or Jetson-based robots from electronics to code and 3D files

Roboreactor Web based interface to design robots

Roboreactor is a web-based platform enabling engineers to build robotic and automation systems based on Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson, or other SBCs from a web browser including parts selection, code generation through visual programming, and generating URDF models from Onshape software. You can also create your robot with LLM if you wish. The first step is to create a project with your robot specifications and download and install the Genflow Mini image to your Raspberry Pi or NVIDIA Jetson SBC. Alternatively, you can install Gemini Mini middleware with a script on other SBCs, but we’re told the process takes up to 10 hours… At this point, you should be able to access data from sensors and other peripherals connected to your board, and you can also start working on the Python code using visual programming through the Roboreactor node generator without having to write code or understand low-level algorithms. Another […]

January 28, 2025January 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Meshtastic Designer helps you build custom Meshtastic solutions with RAKwireless Wisblock components

RAKWireless introduced the Wisblock IoT Modular System in 2020 to let developers easily create LoRaWAN IoT solutions with various core modules, baseboards, and sensor/IO modules. The company kept adding new Wisblock modules year after year, and there are now over 120 modules part of the Wisblock ecosystem. While the large choice of modules makes designing IoT prototypes more flexible, customers often face challenges in checking compatibility and selecting the right modules for the right slots. That’s why RAKWireless has been working on web-based online designer tools for the Wisblock ecosystem. The first release is the Meshtastic Designer used to quickly configure and create their own Meshtastic devices from the module to enclosure, and place an order from there once the design is complete. I’ve given it a quick try myself. I wanted a Meshtastic device with a display, a keyboard, a GNSS module, and an air quality sensor since the […]

January 7, 2025January 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

FOSDEM 2025 schedule – Embedded, Open Hardware, RISC-V, Edge AI, and more

FOSDEM 2025 will take place on February 1-2 with over 8000 developers meeting in Brussels to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. The free-to-attend (and participate) “Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting” grows every year, and in 2025 there will be 968 speakers, 930 events, and 74 tracks. Like every year since FOSDEM 2015 which had (only) 551 events, I’ll create a virtual schedule with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms including “RISC-V”, “FOSS Mobile Devices”, “Low-level AI Engineering and Hacking”, among others. FOSDEM 2025 Day 1 – Saturday 1 10:30 – 11:10 – RISC-V Hardware – Where are we? by Emil Renner Berthing I’ll talk about the current landscape of available RISC-V hardware powerful enough to run Linux and hopefully give a better overview of what to […]

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ESP Offline Programmer flashes firmware to ESP32 and ESP8266 modules without PC

The ESP Offline Programmer is an ESP32 board with a microSD card slot designed to flash the firmware to other ESP32 or ESP8266 modules without a PC. You’ll still need one to copy the firmware to a microSD card, but once it’s done you can just insert the microSD card into the board and after wiring is done ideally using a jig, start the flashing sequence with the press of a button. In some ways, it’s the hardware equivalent of the esptool utility and can be useful for remote deployment where carrying a laptop may not always be convenient and potentially for flashing hundreds or thousands of modules using multiple ESP Offline Programmers in a way that’s faster than using computers. ESP Offline Programmer specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32E ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 microcontroller Storage – 4MB flash Wireless 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity, built-in PCB […]

December 12, 2024December 28, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lattice unveils Nexus 2 small FPGA platform, Lattice Avant 30 and Avant 50 mid-range devices, updated Lattice design software tools

Lattice Semiconductors announced several new FPGAs and software tools at the Lattice Developers Conference 2024 which took place on December 10-11. First, the company unveiled the Nexus 2 small FPGA platform starting with the Certus-N2 general-purpose FPGAs offering significant efficiency and performance improvements in this category of devices. The Lattice Avant 30 and Avant 50 were also introduced as mid-range FPGA devices with new capacity options to enable edge-optimized and advanced connectivity applications. Finally, the company releases new versions of Lattice design software tools and application-specific solution stacks to help accelerate customer time-to-market such for edge AI, embedded vision, factory automation, and automotive designs with Lattice Drive. Let’s have a look at the highlights of each announcement. Lattice Nexus 2 small FPGA platform and Certus-N2 FPGA Highlights and benefits of the Lattice Nexus 2 small FPGA platform: Power Efficiency against similar class competitive devices Up to 3x lower power Up […]